26 Al-Azhar students sentenced to 2.5 yrs in prison

Riot policeman detains a female student of al-Azhar University during a pro-Morsi protest by students inside their campus in Cairo on 30 December 2013.(AFP PHOTO/MAHMOUD KHALED)

Nasr City Misdemeanour Court sentenced 26 Al-Azhar students on Thursday to two years and six months in prison with hard labour.

The students are accused of taking part in protests organised by Students Against the Coup (SAC), violence at Al-Azhar dorms, vandalism and belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, labelled a “terrorist organisation”.

SAC calculated the number of the detained students from Al-Azhar University to be at 230. The most recent count was made late December by the Student Observatory of the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, recorded at 206.

SAC organised protests in the universities of Al-Azhar, Zagazig and Cairo. Clashes erupted in Zagazig University, where a police car was burnt and the SAC spokesman claimed the group’s responsibility for the incident.

SAC female students from Al-Azhar University blocked Mustafa Al-Nahas Road by setting fire to several tyres and leaving them in the middle of the road as an act of protest against the detention of female students.

In the Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University, preparatory year independent students organised a protest condemning the administrative decisions students who had held signs bearing the names of the victims of violence that took place in the university.